Limuru sub-county police commander has died in a road accident that happened in his home county of Kitui Friday night.

Kitui County Commander Leah Kithei confirmed the 11.30 pm accident.

She said the officer, Philip Mwania, who is the police sub-county commander died after his car was involved in a head-on collision with a lorry.

Kithei said the accident occurred at Nzeeu River along the Kitui-Mutomo road and as a result, the police officer died on impact.

She said that the lorry driver came out of the crash unharmed.

The Kitui County commander said the cause of the accident was not immediately established but investigations had been launched.

She said the fallen police officer could have been travelling to his rural home in the Nzambani sub-county, Kitui, for the weekend when tragedy struck.

The deceased officer was alone in the car.

Kithei added that the body of the deceased police has been moved to the Kitui County referral hospital morgue for preservation.

This comes amid surging cases of fatal accidents. It came hours after two people were killed in a collision between a bus and a fuel tanker in Busia.

There is a campaign to address the menace in the country.

Road accidents across the country have claimed 649 lives since the year started, according to data from the National Transport and Safety Authority.

The accidents happened between January 1 to February 20, 2024, which is an increase compared to the 623 recorded during the same period in 2023.

Pedestrians lead in fatalities at 252, compared with 190 recorded last year.

Following are motorcyclists recording 152 deaths marking a slight decrease compared to 177 in 2023.

In 2024, at least 125 passengers have lost their lives in road crashes compared to 114 in 2023.

Some 43 drivers have lost their lives in road accidents.

This is a decrease compared to 59 in the same period last year.

Pillion passengers recorded 61 deaths compared to 71  witnessed last year.

This year, only 10 pedal cyclists have died from an accident within the period under review compared to 12 recorded in 2023.

In an earlier report, NTSA had listed 13 leading causes of accidents in 2023.

NTSA revealed that losing control was one of the main causes of road crashes, accounting for 929 deaths.

Cause not traced accounted for 575 road deaths followed by lane indiscipline at 491.